Pronouns

Pronouns are words like “I,” “you,” “he,” “they,” and so on. They can often replace other nominal words:

• रामो नगरं गच्छति।
  rāmo nagaraṃ gacchati.
  Rama goes to the city.

• स नगरं गच्छति।
  sa nagaraṃ gacchati.
  He goes to the city.

We can often leave out a pronoun entirely if it is clear from context:

• स नगरं गच्छति।
  sa nagaraṃ gacchati.
  He goes to the city.

• नगरं गच्छति।
  nagaraṃ gacchati.
  (He) goes to the city.

But even so, pronouns express many kinds of useful information.

In this lesson, we will learn about the common Sanskrit pronouns. Pronouns use many of the basic nominal endings we have seen. But generally, they follow very different patterns and must be learned individually.

asmad

First, let's consider the first-person pronoun asmad (“I”, “we”):

There are a few points worth noting here. First, notice that asmad does not appear in case 8. Many pronouns appear only in the first 7 cases. Next, these forms use multiple different stems:

• अहम्
  aham
  I

• माम्
  mām
  me

• आवाम्
  āvām
  the two of us

• वयम्
  vayam
  me

• अस्मान्
  asmān
  us

Also, notice that many of these words are similar to the words we use in English:

yuṣmad

yuṣmad (“you”) follows the same general pattern as asmad:

Again, note that many of these words have English counterparts:

etad, idam, adas, and tad

The four pronouns etad, idam, adas, and tad have similar meanings. In theory, etad (“this”) is used for what is near at hand, idam (“this”) for items that are slightly further away, adas (“that”) for items that are much further away, and tad (“that”) for items that are not present.

Below, we provide the forms for all of thes pronouns in all three genders.

tad and etad

Here are the masculine forms for tad:

Again, note that many of these words have English counterparts:

Feminine:

Neuter:

To get the forms for etad, add an e- to the beginning of each form. The only unusual changes are that saḥ becomes eṣaḥ and sā becomes eṣā. These changes are due to normal sandhi rules:

• स खादति → एष खादति।
  sa khādati → eṣa khādati.
  He eats.

• सा खादति → एषा खादति।
  sā khādati → eṣā khādati.
  She eats.

idam

Masculine:

Feminine:

Neuter:

adas

Masculine:

Feminine:

Neuter: